The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly planning to give the Indian team all the practice it can ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia and has scheduled three more tours for the Men in Blue in the buildup for the mega ICC event.
Despite the calls for workload management and bio-bubble fatigue doing rounds, the Times of India reported that the BCCI is trying to find space for three more limited-overs overseas tours after the tour of England in July and before the T20 World Cup. India is scheduled to play a one-off T20I against Ireland while in the UK.
If the report from the news outlet is to be believed, India will immediately travel to West Indies from England and then will also visit Zimbabwe and then participate in the Asia Cup in UAE as preparation for the T20 World Cup, which is due to start on October 16.
Once Sri Lanka's tour of India is over on March 16, the Indian players will be busy with the IPL which will run till the third week of May, followed by a five-match T20I series at home against South Africa on June 19. The team will fly out to the UK a week after the South Africa series.
The Times of India also reported that the Indian team management has already begun thinking about creating a pool of 35 players for the national team.
With the one-off T20I in Ireland likely to overlap with the one-off Test in England, there is every chance India could be having two teams at different venues at a given time, much like how a second-string team toured Sri Lanka last year when the Test team was playing a series in England.
"The discussions on bio-bubble breaks have already started. Every player has been communicated about the busy itinerary. They have been given time to think about when they would like to take a break. It's likely a depleted side will travel to Zimbabwe. Ideally, the Asia Cup will be the right tournament to play the first team, in order to get combinations right before the T20 World Cup," a BCCI official said.
India coach Rahul Dravid has said that the team management has more or less identified the core of the team which is likely to play in the World Cup. But with the Indian team mostly playing T20Is on these tours, it will likely be a final round of auditions for players to stake their claim for the mega event in Australia.
Notably, the amount of cricket that the Indian team will play is due to BCCI’s commitment to helping member nations generate revenues for their own boards. It is believed that the revenue generated from the one-off T20 International against Ireland will suffice for the Irish board's expenses for a year.
(Times of India report)
